I can’t believe March is here already. The days are getting longer, the daffodils are well and truly out and at last the blossom of spring beckons.

It’s just a few weeks now until the launch of the next four of our Authority Guides. As an Authority Club member we would love to invite you to the launch, to be held at Waterstones High Street Kensington. Please click here for more information and to sign up.

For most of us, the new year resolutions we made are either well under way to being achieved or quite buried and forgotten by now. Perhaps even more than January, spring is a great time of year to be thinking of what we could be doing differently to improve in our businesses, in our lives, in the lives of others and even in the wider community.

So my conversation with our guest on The Authority today could perhaps not be better timed. Palma Michel works with leaders from all walks of life using mindfulness and brain training techniques. She shares these with us in The Authority Guide to Mindful Leadership: Simple techniques and exercises to manage yourself, manage others and effect change.

If you’d like to pre-order Palma’s book, or purchase any of the Authority Guides, please don’t forget that as an Authority Club member you are entitled to 10% off – and we offer free shipping from our website. Just apply code authority01 to your order.

I wish you a very happy springtime and I look forward to seeing you at the launch if you can make it.

All good wishes,
Sue Richardson
Editor of The Authority

Palma Michel’s Top Tips for Mindful Leadership…

The digital age is challenging us both individually and collectively. There is a growing recognition of the challenges presented by the pace of change, the uncertainty and the turbulence of doing business in the 21^st century. Leaders widely agree that the new normal is that nothing is normal and the only thing certain is that nothing is certain. Additionally, the 24/7 fast-paced digital economy has made it increasingly difficult for leaders to focus and carve time out in their diaries to think and work strategically. As a result, many leaders find themselves doing ‘busy work’ and reacting to what is urgent.

In this new environment, applying yesterday’s solutions and behaviours to today’s challenges does not work and leaders are looking for new ways to master the challenges of the current environment. Research shows that mindfulness training has many benefits. It strengthens the ability to focus, supports decision-making and strategy and increases authenticity and emotional intelligence. It also helps people to skillfully respond to pressure, demands and uncertainty, which are a constant in today’s business environment.

Tips on how to start a mindfulness practice:

• Make a formal commitment with yourself to sit every day for meditation practice.
• Observe your breath by paying attention to the in-flow and out-flow of your breath. Count each exhalation.
• Don’t try to empty your mind or stop your thoughts. Allow the thoughts to be and just concentrate on your breath over and over again.
• Like training for a marathon, start with a length of time that you can do every day (for example, three minutes), which is challenging you, but does not feel like a chore.
• Regularity is key. In order to strengthen your attention muscle it is better to practise three minutes every day, instead of one hour each Sunday.